Article published in the special issue of KALEIDOSCOPE magazine of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE). http://www.scopeonline.in/SCOPE-pdf/September-2018-Issue.pdf
A developed society is characterized by the innovations it makes for improving the current status and challenging the status quo. There is no progress without innovations and striving to do it better. Innovations are key to economic development and prosperity and therefore the current emphasis on promoting innovations and research is a good long term strategy and every effort should be made by all stakeholders to ensure that it stays on course. The scientific and industrial establishment was very carefully designed by our founding fathers --- the universities and academic institutions were entrusted with the primary task of training skilled manpower and to generate new ideas for technological growth by research. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratories -- there are 38 of those covering different fields of science and technology -- were supposed to undertake translational research for transforming basic research ideas coming out of academic institutions to prototypes for ready adoption of the industry. The industrial establishments were expected to scale up the processes and take the product to the market. Somehow things did not work out according to the plan and instead of working in tandem, all three entities found comfort in working in their own silos.
Prime reason for persistent lack of engagement between the industry and academic institutions is that both sides are not willing to step out of their comfort zones. Academicians love to pursue and philosophize about new ideas and the biggest reward for an academic is the recognition by his/her peers as an original thinker. The idea is soon abandoned in its nebulous state as the curious academician moves to explore new ideas. The industry obviously has little use for these ideas in nebulous state and can not realistically speaking explore each of such ideas for development of a prototype for industry use. Industry needs immediate access to innovations and market ready technologies to remain competitive in the market. Naturally, industry doesn't have time and money to tinker with the ideas in the hope of developing an indigenous technology which is at least five to ten years behind the global standards. Thus, the only way to bridge this gap and address the genuine concerns of all parties, it is essential for industry and academia to look into technology forecasting and start investing on developing on futuristic products which may be ready for market may be ten years down the line and start working from ground zero towards a working prototype by five years with close interactions between academic institutions for theoretical developments and in-house facilities for prototyping efforts. The Prime Minister Fellowship Scheme (http://www.primeministerfellowshipscheme.in) - a joint initiative by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST) is a very promising programme to identify research problems with active participation of the industry. Unfortunately, not many industrial houses are coming forward, or may be they are not aware of this programme which has been on since 2012. My personal experience is that the queries soliciting support from the industry often go unanswered! While the PM Fellowship is a very good initiative to bring the industry and academia closer, yet another cost-effective engagement would be to invest in the establishment of small start-ups by the students working on these innovative ideas during their graduation theses to take the next logical step and convert those ideas into reality of working prototypes which can then be adopted by the industry for scaling up. It is futile to expect that the academia can develop as well as transfer useful technologies on its own without any participation from the industry. Although the awareness about intellectual property rights is slowly improving, the academia still finds it extremely difficult to find users for the technologies developed in its laboratories. While the patent portfolio grows as more and more patent applications are filed, most of it remains as non-performing asset. There is no support system to facilitate technology transfer from the academic laboratories to the industry. Industrial houses are too heavily invested in the current technologies and processes and any adoption of new technology has cost implications which should be avoided unless the benefits of technology adoption outweigh the associated costs. This question of cost-benefit analysis does not arise if the industry has been involved in the technology development right from the inception of idea.
This is the theory and almost everybody knows it. The trick is in finding ways to make it work. Allocating funds from Corporate Social Responsibility towards supporting start-ups and incubation programmes in academic institutions is the lowest hanging fruit and it also provides much needed mentoring and definite direction for the start-ups if the industry can participate in evaluating and help refine product line and business plans of the start-ups. Another important initiative by the Government of India is the support for industry oriented research through Uchchatar Avishkar Yojna (UAY) (http://www.pradhanmantriyojana.co.in/uchchatar-avishkar), wherein 75% of the total budget of project comes from the Government of India funds and the industry has to pitch in with 25% of the budget. The industry can have exclusive rights for use of the developed technology for a limited period with an option to secure full rights after additional payments. This is a very promising scheme to foster greater collaboration between the industry and academia but its success hinges solely on the choice of problem and the participation of the industry in its formulation and also to steer the progress of the project so that the end product is in the usable form. Several academic institutions have started Corporate Lecture Series to provide a platform for speakers from industry to interact with peers from academia in an informal setting to explore the avenues for partnerships. It is important to strengthen these mechanisms and leverage those with a long term view. It takes time and effort to nurture ideas and partnerships and it is necessary to have realistic expectations from both sides. But together, we shall overcome all obstacles and prejudices and work towards a common goal of nation building through development of indigenous technologies. It takes two to tango and both partners have to be in sync!
A developed society is characterized by the innovations it makes for improving the current status and challenging the status quo. There is no progress without innovations and striving to do it better. Innovations are key to economic development and prosperity and therefore the current emphasis on promoting innovations and research is a good long term strategy and every effort should be made by all stakeholders to ensure that it stays on course. The scientific and industrial establishment was very carefully designed by our founding fathers --- the universities and academic institutions were entrusted with the primary task of training skilled manpower and to generate new ideas for technological growth by research. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratories -- there are 38 of those covering different fields of science and technology -- were supposed to undertake translational research for transforming basic research ideas coming out of academic institutions to prototypes for ready adoption of the industry. The industrial establishments were expected to scale up the processes and take the product to the market. Somehow things did not work out according to the plan and instead of working in tandem, all three entities found comfort in working in their own silos.
Prime reason for persistent lack of engagement between the industry and academic institutions is that both sides are not willing to step out of their comfort zones. Academicians love to pursue and philosophize about new ideas and the biggest reward for an academic is the recognition by his/her peers as an original thinker. The idea is soon abandoned in its nebulous state as the curious academician moves to explore new ideas. The industry obviously has little use for these ideas in nebulous state and can not realistically speaking explore each of such ideas for development of a prototype for industry use. Industry needs immediate access to innovations and market ready technologies to remain competitive in the market. Naturally, industry doesn't have time and money to tinker with the ideas in the hope of developing an indigenous technology which is at least five to ten years behind the global standards. Thus, the only way to bridge this gap and address the genuine concerns of all parties, it is essential for industry and academia to look into technology forecasting and start investing on developing on futuristic products which may be ready for market may be ten years down the line and start working from ground zero towards a working prototype by five years with close interactions between academic institutions for theoretical developments and in-house facilities for prototyping efforts. The Prime Minister Fellowship Scheme (http://www.primeministerfellowshipscheme.in) - a joint initiative by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST) is a very promising programme to identify research problems with active participation of the industry. Unfortunately, not many industrial houses are coming forward, or may be they are not aware of this programme which has been on since 2012. My personal experience is that the queries soliciting support from the industry often go unanswered! While the PM Fellowship is a very good initiative to bring the industry and academia closer, yet another cost-effective engagement would be to invest in the establishment of small start-ups by the students working on these innovative ideas during their graduation theses to take the next logical step and convert those ideas into reality of working prototypes which can then be adopted by the industry for scaling up. It is futile to expect that the academia can develop as well as transfer useful technologies on its own without any participation from the industry. Although the awareness about intellectual property rights is slowly improving, the academia still finds it extremely difficult to find users for the technologies developed in its laboratories. While the patent portfolio grows as more and more patent applications are filed, most of it remains as non-performing asset. There is no support system to facilitate technology transfer from the academic laboratories to the industry. Industrial houses are too heavily invested in the current technologies and processes and any adoption of new technology has cost implications which should be avoided unless the benefits of technology adoption outweigh the associated costs. This question of cost-benefit analysis does not arise if the industry has been involved in the technology development right from the inception of idea.
This is the theory and almost everybody knows it. The trick is in finding ways to make it work. Allocating funds from Corporate Social Responsibility towards supporting start-ups and incubation programmes in academic institutions is the lowest hanging fruit and it also provides much needed mentoring and definite direction for the start-ups if the industry can participate in evaluating and help refine product line and business plans of the start-ups. Another important initiative by the Government of India is the support for industry oriented research through Uchchatar Avishkar Yojna (UAY) (http://www.pradhanmantriyojana.co.in/uchchatar-avishkar), wherein 75% of the total budget of project comes from the Government of India funds and the industry has to pitch in with 25% of the budget. The industry can have exclusive rights for use of the developed technology for a limited period with an option to secure full rights after additional payments. This is a very promising scheme to foster greater collaboration between the industry and academia but its success hinges solely on the choice of problem and the participation of the industry in its formulation and also to steer the progress of the project so that the end product is in the usable form. Several academic institutions have started Corporate Lecture Series to provide a platform for speakers from industry to interact with peers from academia in an informal setting to explore the avenues for partnerships. It is important to strengthen these mechanisms and leverage those with a long term view. It takes time and effort to nurture ideas and partnerships and it is necessary to have realistic expectations from both sides. But together, we shall overcome all obstacles and prejudices and work towards a common goal of nation building through development of indigenous technologies. It takes two to tango and both partners have to be in sync!
